Insurance

I was not athletic as a kid.  That means I did not play organized sports.  Of course this was back in the day when Little League baseball and Pop Warner football were the only games in town.  Not like today where kids have a choice of soccer, swimming, Tae Kwon Do, or even rowing.   I ran track for a couple of seasons in High School – once running a 5:15 mile to the surprise of my coach and myself. 

As a kid my athleticism was running through the woods, sledding down the big hill at the golf course (and walking back up the hill), and swimming all summer.  We played tennis, stickball, and tag football; but never in an organized manner.  Still – I stayed thin and limber – just not athletic to a point where it was a part of my life.  Then again, who in their teens truly sees beyond the immediacy of the moment?  Very few.  You see them every four years on NBC.

Even in Basic Training I did push-ups, sit-ups, and ran out of fear of my Drill Sergeants than for passing the physical fitness test.  Once I made it to the New York State Trooper Academy I learned that if you ran faster than the others then you got to the shower first.  From there it started for me.

Since my mid-twenties I had maintained a level of physical fitness that wasn’t the pinnacle of human endeavor, but I didn’t have a gut and could run 7:00 miles for a 10k.  I could do push-ups and sit-ups in the high ninetieth percentile when I took my Army Physical Fitness Test.  I tried to “get big” in 2008-09 in Iraq but I lacked the discipline to take protein shakes and limit carbs even though I went to the gym almost every day.  I suppose I got strong without getting puffy.

Now I am forty-eight and fifty is creeping around the corner.

And I still lace up the shoes and pound the pavement.  Even with my bad knee I can still run a 5k in under 24:00 and the APFT 2 Mile Run in 14:15 on an easy day.  I go to the gym and lift with a goal in mind of getting stronger than I am now.

Why.

I look at working out as an insurance policy for the future.  Eating well and exercise might give me more time to play with the boys as they become teenagers and keep me agile for grandchildren one day.  I do it so I don’t have health issues now or in the future.  I have some ego in it too.  I want to be respected for looking the part of an Army officer, good looking dad/husband, and forty-something year old. 

I still work out to stay young in body, mind, and spirit for as long as I can.